Man I'm happy. I can feel a good thing happening. The candidate that I'm backing has a greater and greater chance of winning each day and I'm on board now like I've been since his announcement. I feel like the fan of the sports team that's staging a thrilling comeback and possibly heading to the playoffs.
But I feel like something needs to be stated for the record here. I just heard Shelby Steele on Charlie Rose and I absolutely have to step in here and articulate that my excitement over Obama has everything to do with his message and not his color. Honestly! In fact, the best part about his color is that people are not going to let it prevent them from voting for him.
Believe it or not I've actually listened to Obama, not just looked at him, and I've liked what I've heard. When I hear experts and pundits and even regular people talk I hear so much about Obama's campaign in the same conversation as his race and it stuns me that folks are so stuck on that. Duh, I get it, I know, it's certainly part of what he is, no reason to act dumb and ignore it but it's not all of what he is. After a while it all seems so petty, so beside the point and counterproductive to good politics, but people are very colorstruck and even gender obsessed. Of course so many Americans can releate to being mistreated because of their race or because of their gender so they get very excited when they see someone defying the odds and they want to throw full support behind that person as a way to kind of heal their hurt. I understand that feeling and I feel it too, okay, I can't deny it. But I don't want anyone to assume that I vote solely based on my cultural experience. I am a working person, I am a family person, I am a voting person and as much as possible I try to be a fair person and I want people to be fair to me and fair to Senator Obama in any discussion about the nation's political issues. No we're not out of the woods, I know, there are still an overwhelming amount of injustices affecting all of us and those are largely the whole nation's political issues. But voting for change is not to be confused with voting for a historical 'first.' Firsts are intesting tidbits to note but not the basis for a presidential campaign. Guess what, I too am a black man, news flash, but please don't insult my intelligence by thinking that a historical first could be the basis for my voter support. Obama will be the first to tell you that his purpose in this campaign is not to be a historical first nor is it Clinton's purpose or Richardson's purpose or Romney's purpose or Guiliani's purpose. The United States presidency is a big deal, I don't take it lightly and I won't vote blindly. So again, let me put it very simply: I back Obama's message. I listened to his words and I agreed with his goal. I also listented to the other candidates and I agreed with and respected a lot of intelligent points that came from Edwards, Kucinich, Richardson, Biden and even Clinton. And this is how my role in the political process is supposed to work. Just had to get that off my chest. Go Obama 2008!
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